You guys should also hold a show educating newbies how to choose the best vpn and what are the main factors to consider while choosing a VPN.
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*** A VPN is a private network that uses a public network (usually the Internet) to connect remote sites or users together and provides a secure connection. - Examples - Think of it as a secure tunnel through which all communication flows. The data packets along with their routing information are encrypted and passed through the tunnel. All one sees from the outside is encrypted data moving between your PC, (or other device), and another address. They don't see the adress of where individual packets are going. Many people think encryption does this, but only data packets may be encrpted. The router information for every packet remains in clear text, because routers have to be able to read it to direct it to its destination. So others viewing this can't read your data because it is encrypted, but they can see every address you are connecting to. So if you are concerned that your internet provider is recording your connection data, use a VPN. But how do know your VPN provider isn't selling your connection data? Do your research and read the fine print in their privacy statement. BTW congress just passed a law allowing your internet provider to sell your connection data.

You can use a VPN to:
Bypass geographic restrictions on websites or streaming audio and video.
Watch streaming media like Netflix and Hulu.
Protect yourself from snooping on untrustworthy Wi-Fi hotspots.
Gain at least some anonymity online by hiding your true location.
Protect yourself from being logged while torrenting.

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*** Public WiFi
I don't believe anyone should use public Wifi without a VPN. Did you know there is no encryption of your data between your device and the WiFi. This is a hackers paradise.
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*** VPN criteria
Price - you get what you pay for
Performance vs your native connection
Number of devices supported concurrently
Torrenting policy Torrenting is Peer to Peer filesharing, the new tech lime wire
Number of servers & locations
Support for Netflix
Logging policy - look for "no loging" & read fine text in privacy agreement

One of the main reasons to use a VPN is to keep your information private, particularly while you’re browsing the Web. But before you get too comfortable, thinking this will keep prying eyes out of your personal business, know that some of the most popular VPNs are actually keeping logs on you, even after promising that they won’t.

As crazy as it sounds, that’s true. A new report claims that 26 of 115 of the most popular VPNs are keeping logs on you and your use of their service.

The Best VPN investigated 115 of the more popular VPN services and found 26 of them collected three or more log files that include personal and identifying information. This includes IP addresses, locations, bandwidth data, and connection timestamps.

This comes at an interesting time, when Facebook is being called out for sharing users’ data, making many want to drop the service. Yet another service they were counting on to protect their privacy has been holding onto their information. In fact the VPN industry is increasing in popularity. In 2014 it was a $45 billion business, and it’s expected to increase to $70 billion by 2019.

PureVPN’s logs actually led to a man’s arrest, logs that they say in their privacy policy they’re not keeping. They say they “have no record of your activities such as which software you used, which websites you visited, what content you downloaded, which apps you used, etc., after you connected to any of our servers.”

However, Ryan Lin’s information was being kept. The logs of his data were turned over to the FBI. He was using PureVPN, a service he believed was keeping his information private, yet they were keeping logs regarding him and gave up the info to the FBI.

Despite it being made public that they’re keeping logs, PureVPN still does, yet their privacy policy still claims that they don’t. The study determined they are keeping names, email addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, bandwidth data, and connection timestamps.

But again, PureVPN isn’t the only one, just one of 26 of the tops VPNs – not all of them, just the most popular ones. If you’re concerned your VPN might be collecting information on you, visit the list to see if yours is mentioned.

NordVPN, on the other hand, is the most secure option we’ve found in our VPN testing. It keeps a strict no-logs policy meaning that, even if a government agency asked, NordVPN would have no logs to hand over.

It also uses best-in-class security with AES-256 encryption on all connections and support for OpenVPN, PPTP, L2TP/IPsec and IKEv2/IPsec. NordVPN uses a few double-hop servers for an extra layer of protection. These servers are a big reasons why it’s a pick on our best VPN for China list. You can read more about it in our NordVPN review.

When choosing a VPN provider, you should glance over the privacy policy to see how it handles logs. Read our VPN reviews to see how a provider handles your data.
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Killswitches & DNS Leaks
There are two other important parts of VPN security that wouldn’t fit neatly into any other sections: leaks and kill switches.

Starting with the simpler of the two, a killswitch is a security feature that allows you to cut your connection to the internet in the event you get disconnected from the remote server. That way, you won’t get caught with your pants down.

A lot of VPN providers offer a killswitch, but some of the more mediocre options on the market do not. PIA, AirVPN, IPVanish and ExpressVPN are just a few of the many providers that offer a killswitch. Read our PIA, AirVPN and IPVanish reviews to learn more about these providers.

Leaks are a serious problem when using a VPN. The two main leaks you’ll encounter are IP leaks and DNS leaks. IP leaks are when you’re connected to the VPN, but your IP address still points back to your location.

In most cases, IP leaks are the cause of a WebRTC bug. VPNs that work in browser extensions should disable WebRTC when you enable the extension, but you can go and disable it yourself using another extension.

DNS leaks are when you connect to the VPN’s DNS servers but your web browser sends the request directly to your ISP anyway. DNS, the domain name system, is what allows IP addresses and domains to work. When you type a URL into your web browser, DNS translates your IP address and the server’s IP address so the two can connect.

DNS leak
When you connect to a VPN, your traffic should be redirected to an anonymous DNS. However, in some cases, your web browser will just send the request directly through your ISP’s DNS. This is a DNS leak.

We test IP and DNS leaks in each of our VPN reviews, so you can read through those to see which make the cut and which fall behind. There are a few ways to check yourself, though. You can see if there’s an IP leak by looking up your IP address and seeing if its changed or not, and check your DNS by using dnsleaktest.com or ipleak.org.
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